The City of Portland’s Climate Action Plan recommends actions to reduce carbon emissions across City bureaus. The goal for City bureaus is to achieve a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). The Water Bureau is working to reduce energy and fuel use across all operations to help meet these goals (see Energy Use and Fleet Efficiency sections). The bureau also tracks its carbon emissions on an annual basis through a Carbon Footprint Report.

Carbon Footprint Report

The Water Bureau calculates carbon emissions from electricity, natural gas, fuel use, and air travel and reports these in an annual Carbon Footprint. Understanding how and in what quantities the bureau is generating carbon emissions provides staff with tools for managing and reducing the bureau’s contribution to climate change. Bureau carbon emissions for calendar year 2013 were 9,062 metric tons of CO2e - a 35% decrease from 2007 baseline carbon emissions (14,000 metric tons of CO2e).